Designed by Volvo’s new design boss, Thomas Ingenlath, the Concept Coupe manages to evoke the P1800 without being a pastiche; it’s a convincing looking car.

Sitting on Volvo’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform – which will see the light of day in a production car first with the next XC90 – the Coupe Conept finally escapes Volvo’s reliance on Ford platforms, and shows the SPA’s flexibility of scale.

Featuring a look at Volvo’s design future – a future Thomas Ingenlath has already said won’t feature ‘Vanilla’ designs – the Coupe gets an evolution of the nose we first saw on the Volvo Concept You – and looking much better for it – with a floating grill and slim headlights with LED running lights, a deep scallop down the flanks and slim C-Shape tail lights.

Inside, the Concept Coupe is a bit ‘Concepty’ with a big infotainment touchscreen and expensive leather, wood and glass, but it’s not so far removed from reality that you can’t imagine it in production guise.

Under the skin the Coupe gets a 2.0 litre petrol engine from Volvo’s new Drive-E engine range driving the front wheels and an electric motor and batteries powering the rear, with a combined output of 395bhp and 442lb/ft of torque.

If Volvo aren’t planning to put the Coupe Concept in to production, they’re mad. It looks as good as the Vox Volvo, and that’s praise indeed.

The Volvo Coupe Concept will get its public debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.

I hope it is just me – but this is one unfortunate looking car. Its styling may be harking back to a 1960s classic, but it all looks a bit heavy-handed and ill-proportioned. Surely this will never make production.